Highland Church Podcast

Have you ever desired deliverance from something? I’m sure all of us can resonate with this feeling of desiring deliverance from our circumstances. Sometimes, we can take control of these situations, but what about the times we can’t? What are we supposed to do in situations that we can’t control? We take this question with us into the passage of today Exodus 14:13-14. In this passage we find amazing insight in dealing with hard situations.

Is what happens in life the result of chance & choice or design & destiny? Is it my will or God’s will? Is eternal life about our will or God’s will? These are some of the questions that our passage in Acts 13:46-48 addresses. This topic is troubling for many of us but Paul (who is speaking) and Luke (who is narrating) are not. For them: There’s Our Free Will and there’s God’s Sovereign Will. Both are at work, all the time, in this life and the next.

Everything in your life is going to try to convince you that What God thinks of you doesn’t matter? All that matters is what you think of yourself and what others think of you. But neither is what matters ultimately. What God thinks of you is the most important question you will ever ask? Am I good with God? In today's passage we will look at why justification is such an important part of that answer.

Acts 13:4-12 is a story about power and influence. Paul sees this. He recognizes that the governor—a man with great power—is being influenced by an even greater power preventing him from seeing and believing the truth—and he doesn’t know it. This passage is great example of how we need to be aware of the influence this world is having on others and ourselves. And that we need to be influenced by the truth found in Jesus.

If our differences cause us to divide, then the Antioch should have been doomed. But, what we see in the Antioch church affirms what we see here at Highland and fills us with hope. Its that tandem work of rock-solid commitment to Christ, and rock-solid commitment to his work, that binds them and us, not our differences. The Antioch church also shows us the importance of being a "sending" church and we will look at what that means for us today.

Today's lesson will be given by Carter Kiser, Highland's preaching intern, and is out of Philippians 2:5-11. It's a lesson about humility. What Paul is doing in this passage is inviting the church into the practice of remembrance, which indicates that there is something valuable in practicing what seems to be a passive action. But Paul understood that the only proper response to remembering the glory of Christ was living a life devoted to seeking and knowing Jesus. So, when we begin to remember Christ’s humility, two things happen 1. Our affection and appreciation grow. 2. We are humbled.

Back in the time when the Bible was written, the term “Christian” was an insult. They look different, act different, and sound different. If we are going to be known as Christians, then the world must know it by the way we live that out. Acts 11 has something to say about this.

It's mothers day. Our lesson comes from Acts 12 today. This is a Mom you may not know. She is one of 6 Mary's mentioned in the Bible. But this particular Mary get’s one sentence. One mention in scripture: Acts 12:12. The surrounding verses make the story a little more clear for us. In a moment of crisis and danger, Peter—and everyone else—wanted to be at Mary’s house. We don’t know everything about her. We know she was safe and that she prayed.

This Sunday is Life Giving Sunday. Our lesson today is from Acts 10 and is such an important reminder that God does not have favorites and that the gospel is not to be shared with those that are just close to us. Instead it is to be shared all over the world to every nation.

Our vision at Highland is to Build Up the Next Generation. To do that we’ll think about three words: Gospel, Grace and Faith. We want to help every person in the Next Generation…1. Know the Gospel. 2. Experience Grace 3. Have Faith. Today we are joined by HYG Youth Ministers Ted Crigler, Hanna Thrasher, and Donnie Stover to find out how HYG students are experiencing these thing at Highland.

There is certainly debate among Christians about whether Christians can still perform miracles. What everyone agrees on is that the Apostolic period was a special time—the time when the “foundation” of the church was being laid. Part of the problem with miracles is that we don’t have good language to define them. Because miracles are when something unnatural happens. Or better, supernatural. When a power from beyond this natural world, breaks into it, and with power bends or beaks the natural rules at the same time. Todays passage from Acts 9:32-42 will help us see how miraculous things happened in the bible and still today.

Have you ever re-purposed something at home? What about totally changing one’s sense of life’s purpose, which then changes all you do? That’s what’s happened here in Acts 9—complete re-purposing. In this lesson we will think about Paul and how God re-purposed his life, and in a deeper way changed the meaning behind his life and purpose. The resurrection of Jesus can do the same for us.

It’s Easter Sunday and our passage today is from Acts 8:26-39. It’s the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. Philip has the first one on one Bible study and he shares the good news of Jesus with him. As we focus on the resurrection of Jesus and the good news we hope you will experience what the Ethiopian eunuch experienced. His was an experience of being rejected to rejoicing because of the good news of Jesus. It's a story of sadness to joy, because of the good news of Jesus.

Have you ever asked the question, What robs us of peace? Peace is not something the world says I need that I don’t have yet. It’s not something I can earn if I just work hard enough. What robs us of real peace is a real problem inside me, that I cannot fix on my own. I need someone else to fix it. This is the cross of Jesus.

Today is Baby Blessing Sunday. But this message is not just for the parents of babies. It’s for all of us. In Acts 11:22-24 Barnabas is sent to Antioch to check things out. Brand new Christians there. He goes there to encourage new believers to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. We are called to “encourage” these children and each other to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts throughout their entire life.

Today's lesson comes from Acts 8:9-25. It is the story of Simon the Sorcerer. It is a story that forces us to ask, how do we make sense of a baptized believer still enslaved to sin (in his case the desire to be amazing, greedy for power)? Has nothing changed. This story points to the heart and how we should be tending to it.

Today's lesson was given by Dagan Hatcher, one of our teenagers, and son of Highland Worship Minister, Brishan Hatcher. His lesson today is out of Ephesians 3:16-19. The love of Christ is a love without boundaries. And that love is worth pursuing.

There are those that have come to know Christ, not metaphorically, but in real suffering and death. Our lesson today is from Acts 7. It is the story of possibly the first Christian to die for being a Christian. Did you know you come from people like that? People with that kind of faith. People like Stephen. You are filled with the same spirit as Stephen and the martyrs that have followed him. You have the same ally interceding for you everyday.

What’s true of any group, is true of the church: bring together a bunch of different people and there will be conflict. Conflict is happening in our passage today, Acts 6:1-7. We are going to look at how the apostles handled it and what it might tell you about yourself and how you view the church.

Today's lesson comes from Acts 5:1-11. this story is not about giving. Its about lying. About why we do it, and how we prepare to do it. Its about a great war between Satan and Spirit. Its about God’s fierce protection of His Church. And ultimately its about the grace of Jesus and how we experience it.